Car roof



March 17, 1936. c D, BONSALL 2,034,383

OAR ROOF Filed March 3, 1933 Patented Mar. 17,1936

UNITED STATES E ATENT OFFICE CAR ROOF Application March 3, 1933, Serial No. 659,491

7 Claims.

My invention relates to metal car roofs and has for its principal objects to avoid the necessity for pressing, fianging, punching or matching roof sheets, to save. the metal in the lap heretofore required when the sheets are riveted, to make stronger and tighter joints, to increase the covering capacity of the sheets, to locate the joints where they are most efficient for their purpose and to economize material and labor in the manufacture and assembly of parts. The invention consists principally in the use of plain sheets secured in place by welds located where they cooperate advantageously with the other portions of the construction. The invention also consists in the parts, arrangements and combinations of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing, wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts wherever they occur,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a portion of a car roof embodying my invention,

Fig. 2 is .an enlarged vertical transverse section on the line 2-2 in Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical longitudinal section on the line 3 -3 in Fig. 1; and.

Fig. 4 is a section similar to Fig. 3 showing a modification of the invention.

The construction illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3 comprises a series of roof sheets I at an upper level alternating with a series of roof sheets 2 at a lower level, with box-like members 3 interposed between and rigidly secured to adjacent sheets. The sheets I and 2 and the box-like members 3 extend entirely across the car and their ends are secured to the side plates. 4 of the car. The box-like member 3 shown in Fig. 3 comprises a lower or inside piece of angular form with a wide horizontal bottom 5 and a substantially vertical side 6 extending upwardly therefrom and provided with a relatively narrow horizontal flange 1 extending outwardly from the top of said side. The second or upper piece of said hollow member is also of angular form with a relatively wide top la, whose edge portions rest on the top flange 1 of the lower member, and with the lower end of its vertical side 6a provided with a lateral flange 500, which rests on the bottom 5 of said lower piece. The over-all width of the upper angular piece is enough narrower than the overall width of the lower member to leave ample space at the top I and bottom 5 of the lower member for the margins of the adjacent sheets to rest upon and still leave clearance between the edges of the sheets and the edges of said upper piece. When the parts are thus located,

the upper piece of the box-like member 3 and 5 thereby not onlywelds the parts of said box-like member together but also welds said sheets thereto.

The work of assembling all parts of the roof together is preferably done with the aid of jigs, 10

and the assembly is applied as a unit to the car frame. It is a great facility and economy in the assembling operation to have the lower half of the box-like member wide enough to support the edges of the roof sheets. As the welds 3 are continuous, they are quite tight and efiectively distribute the stresses on the sheets. Besides, it is preferable to make the. welds 8 of metal of greater strength than the sheets, such as high tensile steel. Again, it is noted that the two lines of welds 8 for each box-like member 3 are spaced apart the full over-all width of the upper half of the box-like member, and this wide spacing is especially suitable for taking care of the stresses which cause the distortion of the car frame, called jack-knifing. Likewise, it is an important advantage of the construction illustrated in Fig. 1 that the box-like member 3 is made of different pieces from. the roof sheets,

that its component parts are made of heavier metal than the sheets, that they are made of simple forms, and that their dimensions may be made to meet the computations of the designer.

It is also noted as an important advantage of this construction that it permits the use of plain,

imperforate sheets; and by reason of the welding being located between the edge of the sheet and the adjacent edge of the upper half of the boxlike member, a wide tolerance is permissible in the width of the sheets. Thus it is quite. practicable to dispense with the usual shearing required for accurate sizing and matching of sheets and use the sheets within the usual mill tolerance of width. Another important feature of this invention is that the sheets are made of black iron instead of the customary galvanized iron.

Obviously the construction hereinbefore described is capable of considerable modification without departing from my invention. Thus Figs. 3 and 4 show the pieces of the box-like meming. Reference is hereby made to my copending applications Serial No. 27,848 filed June 22, 1935 and Serial No. 28,818 filed June 28, 1935 for subject matter divided out of the present application.

What I claim is:

1. A car roof comprising roof sheets spaced apart, lower angle pieces of greater width than the horizontal distance between adjacent sheets, upper pieces of less width than said distance and contacting at their margins with the upper surface of said lower angle pieces and adapted to form therewith box-like structures, the margins of each sheet resting on the margins of said lower pieces, and welds securing together said upper and lower pieces and the adjacent roof sheet.

2. A car roof comprising plain roof sheets spaced apart and arranged at alternately high and low levels, a lower angle piece of greater Width than the horizontal distance between adjacent sheets and having one leg upstanding, an upper angle piece of less width than said distance and contacting at its margins with the upper surface of said lower angle piece, the margins of each sheet restingv on the margins of said lower angle pieces, and welds securing together said upper and lower pieces and the adjacent roof sheet.

3. A car roof comprising box-like members and plain imperforate roof sheets, each box-like member comprising a lower angle piece with its vertical leg upstanding and having a lateral flange at the top thereof, and a relatively narrow angle piece, whose horizontal member is in contact with said flange and arranged with its vertical leg depending in contact with the horizontal leg of said first mentioned angle piece, and said roof sheets being arranged in two series, the sheets of one series slightly overlapping the margins of the flanges of the lower angle pieces and being secured thereto and to said upper angle pieces by welds, of added metal which also secure said pieces together, and the sheets of the other series slightly overlapping the margins of said lower of said members being secured together flatwise.

5. A carline comprising a. lower member and an upper member, each of said members comprising a body portion having flanges extending therefrom in opposite directions, the flanges of the upper member terminating short of the outer edges of the flanges of the lower member and the flanges of said members being welded together along the edges of the upper flanges.

6. A carline comprising a lower member and an upper member secured together, each of said members comprising a vertical body portion and.

upper and lower flanges extending therefrom in opposite directions, the flanges of the upper member terminating short of the outer edges of the flanges of the lower member whereby the outer margins of the flanges of the lower member constitute seats for the margins of roof sheets.

7. In a car roof, the combination of carlines,

each carline comprising a lower member and an upper member secured together, each of said members having flanges extending therefrom in opposite directions, the flanges of the upper mem ber terminating short of the outer edges of the flanges of the lower member, and roof sheets resting on the margins of the lower carline mem-- ber, said carline members being welded together along the edges of the flanges of said upper member.

CHARLES DAVID BONSALL. 

